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Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Welcome to the Back-To-School Blog Hop! I chose to talk about fusible
products for appliqué since that is predominately how I create these days,
and I want to share with you some things I have learned that helped set me
on my current fusible appliqué path. (If you’d like to see some of my work,
head over to the My Quilts gallery page, where the first eight pieces
you’ll see all use fusible appliqué.) Maybe you’ll be infused with a
new-found enfusiasm for fusing!

Types of fusible webbing products

Part of what makes fusible products so confusing is that there are so many
different ones and everybody has an opinion about which one is the best. In
reality, there is no one best fusible product. They all have slight
differences, and what works best for you will depend on your particular
preferences. Since most of my appliqué pieces are meant to hang on a wall,
I am not as concerned about the feel of the fabric after fusing as I am
about the ease of transferring and cutting out my design. Others want the
softest fusible possible for use in quilts that need to be comfy and not
stiff. But how do you know what you are going to get when you see the
profusion of fusible products out there?

It helps to know that there are three main types of fusible webbing (and
here I am only talking about fusible webbing, which is meant to fuse two
fabrics together, not fusible interfacings, which bump up the thickness and
body of the fabric they are fused to). They are:

Single paper-backed

Double paper-backed

No paper at all just webbing floating free in the breeze (stop me if my
terminology is getting too technical here.)

Single paper-backed fusibles include Wonder Under (regular and heavy duty)
Heat-n-Bond (Lite and Ultrahold), and Soft Fuse Premium. With these, you
trace or draw your design onto the paper backing, then iron it with the
fusible side against the wrong side of your fabric. You can then cut out
your design from the drawn lines, remove the paper, and iron your shape
onto your background fabric. These are the ones I prefer and find the
easiest to use. (The exception to this is Pellon EZ Steam. Though it is
paper-backed, you only keep the paper on while you trace your design onto
the fusible itself. You then remove the paper, revealing the sticky side of
the fusible, which you press down onto the back of your fabric. You can
then cut out your designs from the lines you drew and iron to you
background as usual.)Double paper-backed include the Steam-a-Seam 2 products (regular and Lite). With these, you
draw or trace on the gridded paper, then remove the other paper, revealing
fusible that has a sticky surface. Rather than ironing down at this point,
you use pressure to stick the fusible and backing to the wrong side of the
fabric. You then cut out your shape, remove the backing, and iron to the
background fabric. Many people love these for the ability to make things
stick together before the final ironing. Personally, I dislike it because
it doesn’t stick well enough when cutting and two papers to trace through
gets bulky.

Free-love (or non-paper-backed) fusibles are rarer and the most commonly
used and known is Mistyfuse. With no backing, you have to have some other
way of getting your design transferred and one way I have seen is by
using parchment paper. (See below for a few details on how to use this.)
Mistyfuse is by far the softest, both before and after washing, of every
fusible product I have used, so if that is important to you this will give
you the best results.

(I actually collected 10 fusible products because I wanted to know what all
the different types were and how they worked, but in the process I ended up
conducting an informal performance test of all of them. If you are
interested in those results, I will be doing a follow-up post within the
next couple of weeks.)

Tools and Tips

Whatever fusible you choose, here are some tools and tips for using them
that can help make your fusing a little easier:

A light box

Although you can often trace designs onto fusible backing
without illuminating it from behind, light will help a lot and your
poor tired eyes will eventually thank you. The cheapest and most easily
obtainable light box is of course a nice big window. You can tape your
design to the window, hold your fusible on top of it (fusible backings
tend to not like tape very much) and trace your design. I can tell you
from experience that unless you have very good upper body strength,
this gets tiring and even painful after a while. The newest models of
light boxes are actually thin tablets with an LED light inside and can
be adjusted for brightness. You can use these at a table or even on
your lap as they don't get hot.

A mechanical pencil

With the exception of Pellon EZ Steam and
Mistyfuse, you will be tracing your designs onto the paper backing of a
fusible and these papers are treated so that they will easily peel away
after ironing. This means they don’t take ink very well—ink tends to
just bead up and smear away. Pencil works beautifully, however a
standard number two pencil will lose its sharpness pretty quickly and
you’ll find your line getting thicker and thicker as you draw. A
mechanical pencil keeps a nice thin line no matter how big your piece
and you don’t have to stop to sharpen again and again.

Parchment paper

In the case of a product like Mistyfuse, which has no
paper backing, you may need to draw your design onto something that can
be peeled away later, and parchment paper is perfect for this.
Parchment paper is treated with silicone, which is why food doesn’t
stick to it. If you place your Mistyfuse on the wrong side of your
fabric, lay a piece of parchment over the Mistyfuse and iron, the
Mistyfuse will adhere to the fabric and the parchment will stick to the
Mistyfuse until (after cooling) you are ready to peel it off. Parchment
paper is not the same as wax paper or butcher paper or freezer
paper—only parchment paper will work in this application.

Appliqué pressing sheet

The Goddess Sheet (made by the same company
that makes Mistyfuse) and the Appliqué Pressing Sheet by Bear Thread
designs are two examples of this type of product. If you need to press
appliqué pieces and there is a chance of some of the fusible web being
exposed, a pressing sheet will allow heat to pass through but the
fusible won’t stick to it and won't get on your iron. (Parchment paper
works as well, but a pressing sheet can be reused indefinitely.)

Dryer sheets

If you do get fusible web on your iron (and it happens to
us all), run your hot iron over a dryer sheet. Should come right off. I keep a handful near my ironing board

Comfortable scissors

As with so many things, this is subjective, but
it’s worth finding the one that works best for you. Appliqué shapes
that are somewhat detailed may be easier to cut out with smaller
scissors rather than your big ol’ fabric shears, but go too small and
your hands will cramp. The small Fiskars on the right are what I use
most often because the blades are thin, pointy, and sharp, but they do
make my hands hurt after a while. The spring-loaded Fiskars on the left
are much easier on my hands, but though the blades are relatively
small, they are not as thin and pointy as the others. The Tim Holtz
blades in the center have big handle grips, very pointy blades, and are
slightly serrated, which some people like (I prefer a smooth blade).

Pins

I find that the paper backings on some fusibles peel away
easier a day or two after ironing and cutting. If I need to peel it off
sooner, or if I just have one that’s being stubborn, I score the paper
with the point of a pin. I can then peel away from the scoring
line rather than the edge of the appliqué piece (which also saves my
edge from fraying). Straight pins are much better for this than the
point of a pair of scissors or a seam ripper, which could tear your
fabric.

My last piece of advice is for those who, like me, have refused fusibles
and machine appliqué because the zig-zag, or satin stitch, or blanket
stitch you tried to use just didn’t look as nice as you wanted. Many, many
people love the look of the stitching on the outer edge of an appliqué
piece, but I never have, at least not when I do it and that could be
because I am nearsighted and can see very, very well up close (nearsighted
people tend to be a little nitpickier). But then I noticed my friend
Kimberly always used straight stitch. “What is this sorcery,” I cried, and
she was like, “Dude, it’s so much easier and it works fine.” And she’s
right. I have done all of my appliqué pieces since then with straight
stitch as close to the edge as I can get and it made all the difference for
me. If you cannot see well enough to get very close to the edge, you may
have some fraying beyond your stitch line, more so if you wash your piece.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, just something to keep in mind. Some
people like to do a double line of straight stitching just for security’s
sake, but I never have. (This doesn't mean straight stitch is the best option for everyone, but it is for me and could be for you. Always - whatever works best for you is what is best. Period.)

I hope my effusiveness about fusibles has been illuminating. Feel free to
ask questions in the comments or share your own tips. And please visit all the other fine folks on the hop for lots of great info and advice: